5. CONTACT WITH THE OUTSIDE WORLD 69 Prison authorities should provide particular flexibility when it comes to visiting hours for children, taking into account school hours, homework requirements and the fact that some children have to take on other responsibilities after the arrest of a care-giver, such as paid work or household chores. Children may also have to move home after their care-giver is arrested, and may need financial or other support to be able to visit the prison. PROMISING PRACTICE: CREATING A POSITIVE VISITING ENVIRONMENT FOR CHILDREN [5.12] Contact visits are particularly important for children and their parents and extended visits should be permitted where possible. Visits involving children should take place “in an environment that is conducive to a positive visiting experience, including with regard to staff attitudes”.304 Prison authorities should consider providing some toys, a play area or an outdoors for children. The Italian organization Bambinisenzasbarre has created so-called “Yellow Spaces” in every Italian prison that serve as socio-educational welcome areas for children visiting the prison. These “Yellow Spaces” are places for children to play, voice any needs or challenges they have before and after their visit and make sense of the overall experience. In Belgium, children’s books have been developed to help prepare children for visiting a parent in prison and to explain the different types of visit. Several Belgian prisons have their own version of the book, corresponding to the particular facility. In Finland, a 2015 law requires all prisons to have special visiting rooms for children who come to visit their parent. Children are allowed to touch their parents, hug them and sit on their laps during their visits. Parents in prison can also apply for family visits which can be up to a few days in length. These visits take place in rooms that resemble a living room, with a table, a couch and toys for children and their parents to play with. More information on good practice for children visiting prisoners in several European countries can be found at the website of the organization Children of Prisoners Europe (COPE).306 PROMISING PRACTICE: PROMOTING CHILDREN’S SOLUTIONS FOR IMPROVING PRISON VISITS [5.13] Every year Children of Prisoners Europe’s (COPE) holds a pan-European campaign called “Not my crime, still my sentence” that aims to raise awareness on the rights and needs of children separated from a parent in prison. In 2017, one of the main aims of the campaign was to give children a space to communicate their views to prison directors in order to improve the prison visiting experience. COPE received responses from children across Europe which were delivered to prison directors to help them better understand how children experience the visits and to take this on board to improve future visits.307 5 304 305 306 307 128 Children in prison 70 Contact with the outside world is especially important for the wellbeing, rehabilitation and reintegration prospects of children in prison and plays a key safeguarding role due to their specific vulnerability. Prison authorities should therefore make particular efforts to facilitate family contact, to allow extended visits, home visits and to encourage other forms of communication for children in prison. Article 47(3) of the CRC specifies that the right to be confined in an age-appropriate manner includes, in particular, the right to maintain contact with family through correspondence and visits, apart from in exceptional circumstances. 71 Rule 60 of the Havana Rules specifies that “every juvenile should have the right to receive regular and frequent visits, in principle once a week and not less than once a month, in circumstances that respect the need of the juvenile for privacy, contact and unrestricted communication with the family and the defence counsel”. Rule 61 of the Havana Rules notes that “[e]very juvenile should have the right to communicate in writing or by telephone at least 304. The Bangkok Rules, op. cit., note 28, Rule 28. 305. For more information, see: www.bambinisenzasbarre.org/english 306. For more information, see: childrenofprisoners.eu/2016/06/10/child-friendly-visits. 307. Some of the children’s ideas can be viewed here: Not my crime, still my sentence: A selection of the children’s comments from across Europe, Children of Prisoners Europe, 2017 at childrenofprisoners.eu/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/COPE-campaign-childrens-quotesexternal_31.05.2017.pdf. Guidance document on the Nelson Mandela Rules